Before I jump into the survivor pool recap and picks for this week, I wanted to let you know that friends of mine are running a Halloween event this weekend to raise money for SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
There could not be a better cause to raise money for than this incredible hospital, which my wife Sarah and I actually needed the services of one time for son Alex who gave us a big time scare when he was rushed via ambulance from daycare when he apparently stopped breathing. It was through a snowstorm, neither Sarah or I were with him until we, panic stricken, managed to fight through the snow and get to the hospital. Fortunately, everything turned out okay for Alex and our family, with many thanks to SickKids on that day.
What I always say to people is SickKids is a great place. Not one you ever want to have to go to, but you sure are glad it is there if and when you need it. And they can only keep doing what they are doing with financial support from the community.
Now back to the story about my friends, whose son Will has spent a great deal of time at SickKids since birth. Like I said, they organized a Halloween event – a kids party (to end all kids parties) – for Saturday with all of the proceeds going to SickKids. As part of that, they have a silent auction with many items you sports fans may be interested in.
If you are from Toronto, or Buffalo, or will to drive or fly to either, then see if you are interested in any of these items I picked off the auction list:
- Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs on Mon. Nov. 30th – 2 Gold tickets
- New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs on Tue. Feb. 2nd – 4 Gold tickets
- New York Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs on Wed. Dec. 9th – 2 tickets, section 323
- Phoenix Suns at Toronto Raptors on Sun. Nov. 29th – 2 Gold tickets
- Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills on Sun. Nov. 29th – 4 tickets
- Vancouver Canucks at Toronto Maple Leafs on Sat. Jan. 30th – 2 Gold tickets
- Atlanta Thrashers at Toronto Maple Leafs on Mon. Dec. 7th – 2 Red tickets
See anything that strikes your fancy? Pony up a bid and see what happens. And you can feel great about doing so because it is for a super cause.
If interested, then send me your starting bid and maximum bid, and I’ll pass the information on to my friend to bid on your behalf. If we don’t know who – as in, know you well enough to know you’re good for it – then I would respectively request the bid deposit up front, of course fully refunded if you don’t win your bid.
Some great items there though, so put in your bid. Someone get the Bills tickets! Okay, on to the survivor recap…
If ever we were going to have a clean sheet then last week was the week. But no, packerswhat (emphasis on the “what” … were you thinking) took the Giants who stumbled through and ultimately lost to the Cardinals last Sunday night.
Those aren’t your same old Cardinals, and apparently, maybe not your same old Giants. I don’t hear the comment, “the Giants don’t even miss Plaxico Burress” as much as earlier in the season, and it even turns around the other way as another pass drops through Mario Manningham’s brick hands.
As for the winning picks last week, most all of them came through with ease. In order of preference it was Colts (17 picks), Pats (10), Packers (4) and Chargers (1). In order of lopsided point differential it was Colts (36 points), Chargers (30), Pats (28) and Packers (28).
Like I said, it wasn’t close. No suspense at all. Is that what the NFL is coming to? So many bad teams we can’t even keep a good old fashioned survivor pool interesting?
Maybe, maybe not. This week looks somewhat more difficult than last week. First off, the Bucs, Chiefs and Redskins are all on a bye. Their respective fans rejoice – no embarrassing loss to deal with. The Lions and Rams play each other. More rejoicing – somebody is going to come away with a win (most likely)!
That leaves just the Raiders and Browns of the larger than normal tier of terrible teams to pick on this week. I might normally group the Bills in there too, but they’ve somehow won two in a row. I think it is because I keep picking against them, so in the interest of Bills fans everywhere, I’ll do that again this week.
I won’t pick against them for my top 3 survivor picks, but I will take the Chargers over the Raiders, the Bears over the Browns and finally the Cardinals over the Panthers. (Another very poor team, as are the Titans who I forgot about. Man, there are a ton of bad teams this year.) Anyway, check out my full writeup on why I decided on those three survivor picks.
I’ll be taking the Chargers in the Second Half Survivor Pool starting this week. If you’re in that, and/or still alive in the original survivor then make sure to get your pick(s) in before the 1:00 Eastern deadline on Sunday. Also don’t forget to set your clocks back.